Watertown Square Apartments

I am a new resident of Watertown Square and my experience thus far has been great. Elizabeth and Jesse in the office are very friendly and responsive as is the head of maintenance, Patrick. They have made my long distance move a bit less stressful by being so helpful during the move-​in process. While I haven’t been here long enough to weigh in on some of the other things that people have reviewed, I thought it worth noting that the office staff is wonderful.

We stayed here for two years. Apartment was lovely and the staff is friendly. The biggest heroes are the awesome maintainence staff. Patrick and his team are very reachable and quick. The apartments are pretty clean and maintained well.

We lived at Archstone Watertown Square for 7 months and were very happy with the unit, the building management and Watertown Square. Despite some of the harsh reviews, I will say that this was a really great place to live. For anyone working in Boston, you will find this to be an incredibly convenient location with the express buses located right across the street. Having lived in and around Boston for the last 25 years, I can say with certainty that it was the easiest commute ever. Our 2-​bedroom was spotless upon arrival and when we departed, we took advantage of their cleaning services and so didn’t have to lift a finger. The whole experience from move in to move out was made seamless by the Archstone office who sent emails containing phone numbers to get your utilities set up. We ended up moving out before our lease ended because we bought a home, and our options were laid out clearly. They made every effort to rent our unit as soon as possible and thankfully a new tenant was found within a couple weeks of notifying them of our departure. The fitness room was very nice and rarely crowded. While we didn’t make much use of the café, there were very comfortable leather couches and plenty of tables and the wifi was free. The staff was always very friendly and helpful and the whole place was always kept very clean. If you asked me to point out one negative, I will say that if you are driving out of the underground garage at rush hour, it can be frustrating to merge into traffic in order to enter the left lane to turn onto Galen St. towards the square. You get used to it…

We lived here for three years. The apartment was actually lovely, but I wouldn’t recommend this place in my wildest dreams. Our rent was raised 30% over the time we were there. As the previous reviewer noted, most apartments only raise rents slightly for existing tenants, but this place raised our rent $ 300 dollars a month the first year and then $ 200 the second. The third year, when we got the lease renewal, we saw that our rent was going up another $ 300 a month, so we moved.
I loved living in Archstone – the location is convenient and the apartment was lovely and new. But the company is exploitive and doesn’t have its customer’s best interests at heart. I would never live in this building or another Archstone again.

Archstone Watertown Square is the most overrated apartment complex I have ever lived in. BUYER BEWARE! Yes, my unit has granite counters and laundry, and it’s cute and modern. Yes, there is a great gym and great parking. But this building has so much Section 8 housing it’s appalling. I pay $ 2196 a month for a studio (believe it) and there are hundreds of elderly, minority and welfare residents paying $ 1500 for a 3 bedroom throwing parties all night above my head while I’m trying to sleep. The trash room has the loudest trash compactor making noise all hours and no matter how many times I ask the building manager about the trash compactor noise (and the neighbors partying) nothing has changed. On top of it all, they slipped a letter under my door 4 months before my lease was up to tell me they were raising rent to $ 2260 per month when my lease is up. All set. Not worth it. If your parents are wealthy and want to blow their money, it’s a great location and a cute spot. Just request to be far from the trash room, elevators, gym and the hoards of Section 8 partyers stomping around on the 2^nd and 3^rd floors.

You will pay premium prices at Archstone Watertown and after living there for over a year, I don’t see the value. I would recommend looking elsewhere. At other similar luxury buildings in metro Boston in the same price range you have a full time concierge, a pool, a full gym, better service, and nicer facilities. The location is good for getting off and on the Pike but there isn’t much to do in the neighborhood in terms of restaurants or stores within walking distance.
After my one year lease expired, I expected Archstone would offer another year lease at a reasonable rate. Most apartments offer special loyalty rates for existing tenants that may be slightly higher than last year’s rent but lower than what renters new to the apartment complex would pay. Archstone raised the rent for my small ground floor 1 bedroom by more than $ 1500.00 dollars a year for a 12 month lease. If I elected a month to month lease the rent would go up by an additional $ 500.00 a month or $ 6000.00 a year!
The management at Archstone Watertown aren’t friendly, responsive, organized, or helpful, as you would expect at a luxury residence. You will frequently get notes slipped under your door that were meant for another apartment asking you to clean your balcony (mine was empty) or curb your dog (I don’t have one). Some of my favorite apartment wide notices have included asking residents to re-​register their car by filing out another form at the office and placing a sticker in the window or they will tow it, registering your bike and putting a sticker on it or they will get rid of it, or asking if you currently have a storage facility with them. Don’t they maintain any files? Shouldn’t you know this already? I know I filled out a form with my car details when I moved in. Where did that go? If there is a new policy requiring stickers on car, put the sticker in my mailbox and transfer the details from my original paperwork.
When I moved in, the property manager said they would install a digital thermometer and buzzer/​voicebox. After I moved in, I was told I didn’t need those things, so I still have to walk down to the entrance to let people in. It is more than a year later and my name isn’t listed in the residence directory.
When I moved in, I also reserved the movie theater for my niece’s 5^th birthday and when I went to pick up the passcard, I was told there was no reservation in the book and another apartment had the space. I only found this out a few hours before my guests were arriving, so it was too late to cancel.
The walls are thin, so expect to hear people walking above you, toilets flushing, and barking dogs. There isn’t much of a community since the residents are a mix of foreign college students, temporary commuters, and elderly couples. The internet and tv café gets fairly crowded. There is an older woman there most nights and weekend afternoons having loud conversations with someone on her laptop in what sounds like an Aramaic or possibly Hebrew language. She will only begrudgingly give you the remote to the TV, because she wants the volume off so she can talk. The foreign exchange students also seem to think that the lounge is a great place to have a skype conversation, so it isn’t a great place to work or relax.
The elevators are slow. The intersection is noisy across from the Watertown Bus Yard. There isn’t any real outdoor space or views, most of the ‘landscaping’ is mulch. My unit has a view of a fence. It’s too bad because they could have built a lovely shared roofdeck across from the Charles but instead the shared spaces overlook the brick building next door.
There are alarms that go off frequently. There was a stretch of 3 months where alarms went off in the lobby, theater, café, gym and the first floor entry area. During work hours, it would be shut off but on weekends and at night it just went on and on. Management did seem to think this was a problem. I had reserved the movie theater space for a meeting and we couldn’t talk with the all of the beeping.
Currently the retail space on Galen Street in under construction as well as the underground parking lot. Every day for the past week there has been drilling into cement, vibrating, hammering, and construction noise throughout my unit, loudest in the bedroom. I had to email to ask them to abide by the Watertown noise ordinance laws since they started drilling before 7 am. I am not a morning person, so I have been losing a lot of sleep. I brought this to the attention of Josh Barrett, the Assistant Community Manager. He said there should be only one more hour of disturbances and they would try to communicate it better. I spoke with the construction crew and they expected the noise to continue for at least another two weeks. I don’t think this is acceptable, but Archstone refuses to do anything about it. I guess it’s time to move.

love my 1 bedroom apt, in apt washer/​dryer, central AC, garage parking, gym, granite and SS in the kitchen, tile on bath and kitchen floor as well as bath tub area.
expensive, but you are paying for the amenities.
I like the office staff and maintenance, very responsive. It
is at a noisy traffic corner, so you have to watch what apt you rent. i think it would be really noisy on the second floor facing Galen St since there is tons of traffic and the Waterrtown bus yard is across the street. also traffic outside garage entrance at rush hour can suck.
but overall really like it here. a good mix of tenants, college age, middle age, elderly, families.